OWLS

 OWLS Community Agreements: Be Kind & Be Safe

Brooke’s Open Wilderness Literacy and Science (OWLS) forest microschool program is an alternative educational experience/outdoor learning pod for children ages 6-11 to connect, grow, and learn together in nature. 

Our mixed age group of diverse learners celebrates our unique interests and learning modalities. We enjoy curating a kind and safe community to support our learning in connection with nature and each other. 

We support our understanding and appreciations of difference. We cultivate the understanding that our brains and bodies are unique and that our age and interests can influence our learning. We notice how we all learn and get support in different ways. We pay attention to how animals, plants, and fungi all have similar needs to grow. We also notice how each may grow a bit differently depending on their conditions. When we notice difficulties to thrive, we understand that we can tend to our environment and foster growth.

OWLS Sites, Program Days & Times

Locations:

• Camp Herms in El Cerrito (2-3 weeks a month)

• Tilden Nature Area (1 week a month)

• Joaquin Miller (1 week a year)

• Albany Bulb (1 week a year)

Program runs on: Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays. Students may attend 1, 2, or 3 days a week. They may be dropped off at 9 am or 11am. Pick up is at 1pm or 3:15pm.

*Coming Soon: Monday Math Magic in the Garden and Forest Skill Fridays

*Receive 50% off your first visit day. **Siblings enrolled together are also eligible for a 5% discount. 

• Teacher/Grown Up to Student Ratio is 1:8. 

• Vaccinations are required.

• We accept school funds from Hickman, Connecting Waters Charter Schools, and evouchers from Visions, and purchase orders from the Pacific Charter Institute: Valley View, Heritage Peak, Sutter Peak, and Rio Valley.

Now Enrolling for 2024-2025!

OWLS Outdoor Classroom

The outdoor classroom provides a multitude of opportunities to learn and grow in connection with each other and nature through hands-on engagement with our environment. We develop caring relationships as empathetic team members to facilitate independence and collaboration. Our natural experiences and studies inspire a love of learning and literature.

OWLS Learning Spaces at Camp Herms

After students arrive we venture to Dog Patch. 

• We hold our community meetings around a fire pit surrounded by log benches. 

• We use tables under awnings/roofs as one of our work spaces.

•  There are also a variety of logs with flat tops for us to enjoy sitting and working on, when preferred. 

• We explore and tend to our garden that features:

  • plants for tea: rosemary, lemon balm, and some mint

  • flowers: yarrow, calendula, dahlia, coreopsis, borage, milkweed

  • edibles: ground cherry, borage

After setting our backpacks down, using the bathroom and getting our water, and conducting our morning meeting,  we prepare for our morning hike up to and around the Ridge. Our adventure may take anywhere from 30 to 50 minutes depending on what we are able to observe. Everyday is an awesome learning experience that can feature:

• animals such as: wild turkeys, deer, banana slugs, coyote, and a variety of birds especially Dark-eyed juncoes, Steller's jays, and hawks.

• plant identification: plantain, poison oak, Rooreh (formerly known as Miner's lettuce), poison hemlock, coast live oak also known as yuukis, eucalyptus, california bay laurel, douglas fir, pine, monterey cypress, cedar, california poppy, pineapple weed (wild chamomile), and many more...

• leadership experiences and wilderness safety training

Our hike is concluded when we return to Dog Patch for snack and sit spot. We sit among our cedar, redwood, and oak trees and invite the birds to join us for snack. We provide them with suet and peanuts and enjoy watching them for 20 minutes. This experience inspires awesome conversations filled with detailed observations, curiosity, and respect which also inspires our writing in our writing journals.

Literacy is structured for some whole group, small group, partner, and individual projects to support students in their individualized learning goals within our theme of appreciating each other and nature. Our community agreements are to be kind and be safe. We have a 20 minute work period, sometimes longer for some students who may be in the groove. Then the children choose a movement break, choices may include:

• gardening projects: weeding, watering, planting, digging, trimming grasses, etc.

• log climbing

• shelter building

• collaborative game playing

Children enjoy their breaks anywhere from 10-20 minutes then we return for another focused work period. 

Literacy is concluded around noon which is our lunch time. We tend to eat at Dog Patch but will venture to the Redwood Grove to enjoy the shade among redwoods and sequoias. 

The afternoon is a time for projects...(more descriptions coming soon...)

OWLS Curriculum

Brooke builds relationships with students to design units of inquiry and study. She documents their explorations through note taking and photographs. Each week, she puts together a community newsletter to share their investigations and discoveries with their families. This newsletter also includes updates, reminders and helpful links to community resources and events, as well as, homework assignments. 

She uses Next Generation Science Standards and California English Language Arts Standards to guide her lesson designs. Literacy & Science instruction is offered through guided reading, novel exploration, and interactive writing.

The curriculum and units of inquiry are inspired by nature! Literacy skills are practiced and strengthened alongside deep investigations into plants, animals, and fungi. Scientific knowledge is expanded upon through read alouds, shared reading, guided reading, novel exploration, and interactive writing that supports academic and social-emotional development.

OWLS Daily Schedule

Sample Daily Schedule: 

• 9 AM   Morning Drop Off/Check Ins, Hike, &  Sit Spot

• 10:30  Fire Prep (as needed/permitted), Snack

• 11 AM Morning Drop Off/Check In

• 11:15 Literacy & Science Explorations: Read Aloud, Shared, Guided, or Independent Reading and/or Writing

• 12 PM Lunch/Play/Choice Time

• 1 PM Literacy & Science, Outdoor Skills

• 2 PM Hike & Projects (wood processing, gardening, knitting, building bird houses, etc.)

• 2:45 Clean Up

• 3 PM Final meeting of the day: Roses, Buds, and Thorns

• 3:15 Pick Up

• 3:30 Family Check Ins/Park Play

We always make sure to hike, explore and do one sit spot. Snack is always around 10:30 and lunch is always around noon with play time after.  We do up to an hour of literacy work and allot an hour to practice skills, although these may be broken up into smaller chunks of time rather than in one solid hour. Adjustments are made based on weather, environment, and interest. 

OWLS Home Nature Connections

Homework is suggested to enrich our studies and allow students to develop independence, responsibility, and accountability. 

Daily: 

• Check the weather forecast!

• Students must check, wear, and pack their gear.

Weekly:

Add nature observations/adventures to their journal.

Science Studies

Animal Names

The Tradition of Animal Names, Coyote’s Guide To Connecting with Nature (2016), Nature Names pp.348-350

Animals are regarded as teachers that are recognized for the gifts they offer us. This association strengthens human-creature relationships, peer-to-peer mentoring, and empathy for wild creatures.

Trackers Micro School: Daria’s group: returning students Fall 2020: North American Mammals, Daria & Brooke’s groups: 2020: Birds of Camp Herms, Daria & Brooke’s groups: 2021: North American Reptiles

OWLS 2022: Insects

OWLS 2023: Mammals

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